Machine for making cylinder-, block or bar-shaped ice



March 27, 1962 H. M. VAN HEYST 3,026,591

MACHINE FOR MAKING CYLINDER, BLOCK- OR BARSHAPED ICE Filed Oct. 28, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR LEONARDUS HUBERTUS MARIA VAN HEYS'I' ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,026,691 MAt'JHINE FOR MAKING CYLINDER-, BLOCK- OR BAR-SHAPED ICE Leonardus Hnbertus Maria van Heyst, Vught, Netherlands, assignor to Grassos Koninklijke Machinefabrieken N.V., s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, a corporation of the Netherlands Filed Oct. 28, 1959, Ser. No. 849,402 Claims priority, application Netherlands Nov. 14, 1958 7 Claims. (Cl. 62-340) The invention relates to a machine for making cylinder-, blockor bar-shaped ice, comprising a water tank, in which have been mounted a number of freezing cores, each of which consists of at least one tube and, for one or more cores, supply and/or discharge elements and, if necessary, collecting and distributing vessels for the freezing medium. In this generally known machine the cores, which are dealt with in the Dutch patent specification No. 83,606, for instance, have been positioned on the bottom of the water tank, while the collecting or distributing vessels belonging to one or morecores and the common supply and discharge elements for the freezing medium have been fitted beneath the bottom plate of the water tank. In connection with this, the water tank cannot rest on the floor over a large area. In the present-day big machines, in which the bottom plate of the water tank is many metres long and wide, this has the drawback that on account of the weight of the water resting on it the bottom plate has to be stiffened to an extreme degree, egg. by beams and the like. Owing to this not only is the machine for the production of bars of ice heavy and expensive, but moreover the accessibility and the possibility of inspecting the machine are poor in consequenceof the large number of tubes and common pipes, while repairs in case of leaks and the like are practically impossible. Furthermore the known machine has the drawback that its transport is diificult.

Another drawback is that in removing the blocks of ice from the water tank, the blocks of ice float on the water, in merely some of the blocks the water-filled bores are automatically emptied. In fact, after the blocks have been thawed off, a portion of the blocks of ice will float on the surface of the water in such a position that the mouth of their bore is turned towards the wall of the water tank where the blocks are removed; the other floating bars of ice lie in such a way that the mouth of their bore is turned away from the said wall of the tank. In removing the blocks of ice from the water tank, these blocks for a short time will assume an inclined position, during which in the case of the blocks in the said second position the water will flow back automatically from the bores of the blocks to the water tank. In the case of the blocks in the first-mentioned position the water cannot flow back from the bores into the water tank; this water flows from the bores of the blocks to the outside of the water tank. This involves a loss'of ice-water as well as a loss of generated cold.

It is the object of the invention to provide a machine of the above-mentioned type in which the enumerated drawbacks have been removed.

According to the invention this has been achieved by the fact that the number of freezing cores has been divided into groups, the cores of each group passing through the same wall of a box-shaped hollow body in which all the supply and discharge elements the collecting or distributing vessels and, if necessary, belonging to the cores of one group are accommodated, and that at least one side of said hollow body is fastened detachably and in a water tight way to the inside of the wall of the water tank, and that in the region of said fastening, the supply and discharge elements pass through coinciding openings in the inhzbfiiil Patented Mar. 27, 1%52 Wall of the water tank and in the adjacent wall of the box-shaped body.

The measure according to the invention causes that each group of cores with the corresponding parts, supply and discharge elements and the box-shaped body, forms a separate unit, also called a battery, which is easily handled and transported, and which is mounted in its entirety in the water tank, consequently this tank can rest on the floor with its bottom plate over the whole area of said plate, an insulating plate being inserted, if necessary. No stiffening elements are required on the bottom plate of the water tank for the prevention of sagging.

It need not be said that through the use of these structural units the manufacture of the machine too has been considerably simplified.

In order to prevent that at the lower part of the blocks or bars of ice to be formed there will be developed an outward bulge owing to the penetration of the cold through the Wall of the box-shaped body through which the freezing cores have been inserted, which bulges make it diificult for the bars of ice to be thawed off and which cause an irregular shape of the bars of ice, each core in the place where it passes through the wall of the boxshaped body is surrounded on the inside of this wall at I some distance by a heating element.

After having been thawed ed, the bars of ice are pushed up to the surface of the water in the tank by the upward thrust and removed from the water tank near one of the walls of the water tank. After reaching the surface of the water, the bars of ice, which have a bore closed at least at one end, to wit in the place where the freezing core was present during the freezing process, can now be drawn over the respective w all of the water tank in two opposite positions, viz. with the mouth of the bore turned towards the middle of the tank or with the mouth of the bore turned away from the middle of the tank. In the former case, as the bar of ice is drawn over the wall of the tank the bore will empty itself owing to the inclined initial position of the bar. In the latter case, however, the bore will not empty itself, so that the water present in it will flow oif outside the water tank, which involves a loss of generated cold. In order to eliminate this drawback, the freezing core(s) has (have) been positioned so as to be slightly inclined towards the side of the tank where the blocks of ice or the like are removed.

The angle of inclination of the core(s) relative to the vertical is 4 to 6.

The exclusive right also covers a box-shaped body to be used in the machine described, characterized by at least one tubular element on one of the walls, which element passes through this wall and is connected with supply and discharge elements accommodated in the box-shaped body and belonging thereto, while a collecting or distributing vessel may be mounted in between, the box-shaped body being provided on another wall with fastening elements and at 'least one passage for the said supply and discharge elements.

The invention will be explained more fully with reference to the description to be given below of an embodiment shown in the drawing. In the drawing:

FIG. 1 shows a group of freezing cores according to the invention;

FIG. 2 gives a vertical cross-section through a boxshaped body, and

FIG. 3 shows a water tank, partly in cross-section, in which a number of box-shaped bodies have been accommodated.

In FIG. 1 the reference numeral 1 denotes the water tank. Said tank rests with its bottom plate 2 on the floor 4 of the premises, under insertion of an insulation plate 3. In this tank 1, which during operation is filled with water, a number of freezing cores 5 are mounted, each of which consists of a group of hollow tubes 5' closed at the top. During freezing process, ice will be formed around and between the tubes of a core, in the shape of a bar of ice 6 surrounding the core (FIG. 2). A more detailed description of said formation of bars of ice is to be found in the Dutch patent specification No. 83,606.

It is observed that although the drawing illustrates an embodiment of an ice generator for the formation of bars of ice, each core may also consist of a single tube, which is the case eg in an ice generator for small pieces of ice, called crushed ice. In such an ice generator the tubes need not be parallel to each other.

According to FIG. 2, associated with each core 5 is a vessel 7 with a supply pipe 8 and a discharge pipe 9 for the circulation of the freezing medium. The supply and discharge of said medium to the separate cores, however, may also be chosen so that the vessel 7 can be omitted.

According to the invention the cores 5 present in the water tank 1 are divided into groups, one of which is shown in F I. Said group comprises six freezing cores. It is evident that a group may also comprise a smaller or a larger number of cores. The six cores of the group here shown pass through a wall 10 of a boxshaped hollow body 11, in which the vessels 7 and the supply and discharge elements belonging to the cores have been accommodated. Thus this group of cores with the box-shaped body 11 forms a structural unit, which may be built up separately and may be mounted separately in the water tank. Said structural unit, which is to be called a battery hereinafter, is mounted on the wall of the tank 1 by the use of a fastening method known per se, e.g. with the aid of a flange 12. In the place of this fastening the wall of the tank has one opening through which the supply and discharge pipes for the medium to be employed in the freezing process are adapted to pass. Although in the embodiment here described a single opening in the wall of the tank and in the adjoining wall of the battery is shown, in this place several smaller openings for each individual supply and discharge element may also be present.

By this method of mounting a battery the efiect is obtained that the water cannot flow out of the water tank, nor come into contact with the supply and discharge pipes 8 and 9 and/ or the vessels 7, so that no ice can be formed on said elements.

A further advantage is the improved transportability of the whole machine. The batteries and the tank can be transported separately to the destination, and there the machine can be assembled.

It will be evident that the number of batteries for a tank may be chosen at will and that the positioning of the batteries depends on the dimensions of the batteries as compared with those of the water tank. In the case of a tank of great width two aligned batteries may be fitted on two facing sides of the water tank.

Owing to the penetration of the cold during operation through the wall 10 of the box-shaped body 11, through which pass the cores, during the freezing process the lower ends of the blocks of ice formed will develop an outward bulge, which hampers the thawing off. In order to remove this drawback, each core is surrounded, in the place where it passes through the wall of the boxshaped body, on the inside of said wall at some distance by a heating element. In the embodiment shown in the drawing this heating element is an annular tube 13, which has been fitted around the group of tubes of each core and which is equipped with supply and discharge pipes 14 and 15. During operation, a liquid which has been heated sufficiently to prevent the formation of the bulges in question is passed through this circuit.

After the thawing off, the blocks or bars of ice, which have been formed far below the surface of the water, will rise in the tank owing to the upward thrust of the water, as is quite clear from FIG. 3. Owing to the presence of parallel partitions 17 provided below the surface of the water 16 the bars of ice come to lie on the surface of the water so that the longitudinal axes of the various floating bars 18 will be parallel to said partitions 17. At the top of the tank 1 an ejecting apparatus has further been provided. In the embodiment shown in the drawing said apparatus consists in principle of two carrier systems, mounted near the two facing walls of the tank to which the partitions 17 are parallel, and a balancing member. Each of the two carrier systems is formed by an endless chain 19 parallel to the adjacent wall of the tank, one of which chains is shown in FIG. 3. Said endless chain 19 passes over two chain wheels 20. Since the chain wheels of the two carrier systems, which are supported on the wall of the tank facing the wall where the ice is removed, are mounted on one shaft, the two chains of the two carrier ssytems are synchronized in relation to each other. Each endless chain has been fitted in such a way that one part 19a runs above the surface of the water, while the other part 1% moves slightly beneath the surface of the water. The surface of the water 16 is kept at a constant level by means of a float not shown in the drawing. Attached to two corresponding parts of the two carrier systems is a carrier 21 transverse to the direction of the partitions 17 and extending over practically the whole surface of the water. Said carrier, which during operation, as the two endless chains 19 are moved e.g. in the direction indicated by the arrow, at one moment will move through the water and at the next moment above the surface of the water, during its movement through the Water will take along all bars of ice 18 floating on the surface towards one of the sides of the tank. Fitted on this side is the balancing member 22, against whose incline the bars of ice 18 are pushed by the carrier 21. When the bars have got far enough beyond the fulcrum 23, the balancing member 22 will tip over into the dotted position, the bars sliding off the balancing member outside the water tank.

In order to ensure that the water present in the bore of the bar will flow back from the bore into the water tank as the bar of ice 18 is pushed on to the balancing member 22, it has to be ensured that after the thawing off all the bars will float on the surface of the water so that the mouth of the bore 24 is turned away from the balancing member. In view thereof, the box-shaped bodies 11 have been mounted in the water tank so that the axis of each core 5 takes up a position slightly inclined towards the tank side on which the balancing member 22 has been fitted. Said measure ensures that the bars of ice after their detachment from the cores will reach the surface of the water by the route indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 3 and will all take up such a position that the mouth of bore 24 lies on the side turned away from the balancing member 22. An effective inclination of the axis of the core has been found to be one deviating between 4 and 6 from the vertical.

What I claim is: V

1. A machine for making cylindrical, rectangular, or bar-shaped blocks of ice having a plurality of elongated bores therein which are closed at one end and open at the other end thereof, said machine comprising a water tank, a plurality of core units disposed within said tank and secured in fixed position therein to a wall of said tank, each of said units comprising a water-tight housing having a top wall and a vertical end wall by which said housing is secured in Water-tight relationship to said tank wall, aligned openings in said vertical wall and said tank wall, a plurality of freezing cores carried by said housing and projecting upwardly through said top wall, each of said cores consisting of a plurality of freezing tubes arranged in a group, circulation ducts disposed within said housing in communication with said freezing tubes, said ducts being adapted to alternately provide circulation of a freezing medium and a thawing medium through said freezing tubes, said ducts terminating in pipes which extend out through said aligned opening for connection to sources of freezing and thawing mediums, a heating member within said housing surrounding each of said cores.

2. A machine for making cylindrical, rectangular, or bar-shaped blocks of ice having a plurality of elongated bores therein which are closed at one end and open at the other end thereof, said machine comprising a water tank, a plurality of core units disposed within said tank and secured in fixed position therein to a wall of said tank, each of said units comprising a water-tight housing having a top wall and a vertical end wall by which said housing is secured in water-tight relationship to said tank wall, aligned openings in said vertical Wall and said tank wall, a plurality of freezing cores carried by said housing and projecting upwardly through said top wall, each of said cores consisting of a plurality of freezing tubes arranged in a group, circulation ducts disposed within said housing in communication with said freezing tubes, said ducts being adapted to alternately provide circulation of a freezing medium and a thawing medium through said freezing tubes, a conduit disposed within said housing in close proximity to said freezing tubes adjacent the said upper wall of said housing, said conduit being adapted to have a thawing medium circulated therethrough during the circulation of a thawing medium through said ducts and said freezing tubes, said ducts and said conduit extending out through said aligned opening for connection to sources of freezing and thawing mediums.

3. An ice making machine as defined by claim 2 in which said water tank is provided with discharge means by which blocks of formed ice are discharged from one end of said water tank with the closed ends of the said elongated bores of said blocks being foremost, whereby water in said elongated bores is discharged back into said water tank.

4. An ice making machine as defined by claim 3 in which said freezing tubes are inclined upwardly toward the discharge end of said water tank whereby said formed blocks of ice after thawing from said freezing tubes will be discharged upwardly from said freezing tubes with the closed ends of the elongated bores therein directed towards the discharge end of said water tank.

5. An ice making machine as defined by claim 4 in which the angle of inclination of said freezing tubes relative to the vertical is in the order of 4 to 6.

6. An ice making machine as defined by claim 3 in which said discharge means comprises a pivotally mounted member having the inner end thereof disposed within the said water tank and normally inclined downwardly therein and the outer end thereof disposed outwardly of said tank, conveyor means by which blocks of ice floating on the water in said tank are first successively delivered onto said pivoted member while said member is in its normal inwardly and downwardly inclined position whereby water in the elongated bores in said blocks is drained back into said tank and then upon further movement of said blocks upon said pivoted member by said conveyor means said member is caused to rock about its pivot to thereby discharge blocks of ice thereon from said machine.

7. A freezing unit adapted for use in a water tank for making cylindrical, rectangular and bar-shaped blocks of ice, said unit comprising a housing having a top wall and a vertical end wall by which said housing is adapted to be secured in water-tight relationship to a wall of said water tank, an opening in said vertical end Wall which is adapted to align with an opening in said water tank wall, a plurality of freezing cores carried by said housing and projecting upwardly through said top wall, each of said cores consisting of a plurality of freezing tubes arranged in a group, circulating ducts disposed within said housing in communication with said freezing tubes, said ducts being adapted to alternately provide circulation of a freezing medium and a thawing medium through said freezing tubes, a conduit disposed within said housing in close proximity to said freezing tubes adjacent the said upper wall of said housing, said conduit being adapted to have a thawing medium circulated therethrough, said ducts and said conduit extending out through the opening in said vertical end wall for connection to sources of freezing and thawing mediums.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 983,466 Voorhees Feb. 7, 1911 1,129,923 Vollomann Mar. 2, 1915 2,133,521 'Wussow Oct. 18, 1938 2,221,694 Potter Nov. 12, 1940 2,253,512 Fechner Aug. 26, 1941 2,696,717 Lindenberg Dec. 14, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 2,381 Great Britain July 31, 1913 416,600 Italy Dec. 5, 1946 462.475 France u,.. Sept. 11, 1913 

